Sarnothi culture is divided amongst the four Major Clans discussed previously, but each Major Clan also has it's own system of sub-clans branched within it. Many of these clans, including the four Major Clans, began as families of influence within Sarnoth's government until they evolved into social and political entities unto themselves.

The term "clan" is largely divorced from the concept of a family structure in sarnothi society and generally refers to the established political and socially-influential groups of the city's government. Almost all sarnothi belong to one of the various sub-sects of their Major Clan due to Sarnoth using a form of caste system with varying amounts of rigidity. However, the individual's surname is unrelated to the clan you are born into (or in some cases move into). For example, there is no Clan De'Madiea; Pohl De'Madiea is a member of Clan Sho'Shen within Clan Tel'Dora.

I am thinking it might be because Sai Fen and Pohl might have discussed how to break news that Selkie may be one of the last survivors of her clan, and came up with a “Okay, you break the news to her parent first because he probably knows how to deal with his daughter better than we do and know how to best let HER know, and I’ll distract her while you have that conversation!”

At least, that is generally how the delivery of really crummy news is decided in my family/friends. /shrug

Thinking about it more, I can’t blame Pohl for being angry. Todd just trivialized the entire reason for the Sarnothi to be living among us in the first place and Pohl knows that nothing in Todd’s grasp of “politics” compares to the wiping out of a quarter of the population of your species.

Well, yes, that’s fair. All those people are (probably) comparable to what these Sarnothi have escaped from… but I meant it the way pyrpyr took it I think… nothing *in Todd’s experience* would compare to what Pohl and his people have gone through.

If you didn’t want to discuss it, don’t add an ‘except’ or a ‘but’ opening to further conversation. And if you don’t want it trivialized, don’t be intentionally vague and dance around the subject or don’t bring it up at all. Be an adult here Pohl.

Yeah, that was kind of dickish. Todd’s just trying to understand the situation, and until now they had been joking and getting along just fine. It’s pretty unfair — not to mention rude — to lash out at your GUESTS for trying to understand something. Especially when them understanding this is the entire reason you invited them over in the first place! Not to mention him taunting Todd with the information but being so vague as to not give any sort of actual information.

I’m entirely with you on this. Pohl just comes across as kind of a jerk here.

When you are asked a question, and you answer in a very vague way for which a completely reasonable interpretation—honestly, in context, by far the most reasonable one based on everything Todd has heard in the conversation—is that you disagree with their politics, then get abruptly angry when somebody makes a relatively flippant comment in response, you’re just acting like a jerk because of a misunderstanding that’s almost entirely your fault.

If he’d said something like “There are… serious disagreements. I’d rather not discuss it,” or soemthing, you could at least fault Todd for being a bit dense, but “you know how it is” implies that what he was saying was that it is, in fact, exactly like familiar North American politics, not something along the lines of, say, genocidal regimes elsewhere in time and place.

So Sarnoth is essentially a police state run under the hand of the “military/police/peacekeepers”, the Sar’Teri. Selkie’s Clan, the Jin’Sorai either rebelled or protested the current state of affairs so the Sar’Teri had them wiped out. Men, women, and children. The only Jin’Sorai left that we know of is Selkie.

My money is still on “doctor needs more dexterity than webbed hands can give”, so they were likely surgically removed. Unless someone thought it funny at some point to “mutilate” him (Sar’Teri, anyone?).

(programmer mode) Oh no! The Sarnothi clan system is my greatest (for now) programming enemy! The nested list of (nested) lists! It’s…
(biologist mode) like the taxa and the system for sorting species within many levels of groups. Only instead of five kingdoms you have four.

I am guessing this is a misunderstanding. Pohl probably is used to the humans that KNOW about the state of his homeland, so when he thinks political differences, he thinks that Todd knows what he is talking about and is being purposefully dense (he probably did not know that the only reason that Todd knows as much as he does about Selkie is that the orpanage used the trail and error method of figuring out what Selkie can or cannot eat and Todd just guesses at the rest). Or he may not be mad at Todd, but just mad thinking about the Sar’Teri.

We need to cut Pohl some slack. He’s under strict instructions from “Agent Brown” to “be very careful” about what he tells Todd and Selkie (remember Selkie377)? And, coming right out and telling an eight-year-old about civil war and genocide (if that’s what happened), possibly involving her biological parents, isn’t a good idea no matter what species are involved.

Okay kids, with elections coming up really soon, here’s a quick political lesson:

The bi–party system works like ass. BOTH sides have several individuals who are corrupt as hell and would sell their own grandmothers. And BOTH sides have a few decent individuals (that you can probably count on one hand). And BOTH sides have several individuals that fall somewhere in between.

Candidates who focus on smearing their opponents name typically do so because they themselves have a pretty shitty track record. And if you don’t like the choices, VOTE ANYWAYS AND VOTE FOR THE WRITE-IN OPTION.

I’m so, so glad that when Selkie makes a blunder in a conversation, Todd tells her it’s inappropriate right then and there, instead of waiting until they’re alone and informing her THEN that what she said makes him ashamed to have her as his daughter.

Why no, I don’t have any particular personal experience with that at all *eye twitch*